Namesakes #166: Salt & Pepper

It's time to go condiMENTAL!

SALT AND PEPPER #1

We kick off today over a hundred years ago, with some “Satanic” blues from 1924. Their real names were Cliff and Clyde.

Salt & Pepper – Crazy Blues

SALT AND PEPPER #2

Twangy rock ‘n’ roll instrumental from 1961 produced by Bob Crewe who went on to co-write a bunch of hits for Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.

Salt And Pepper with The Shakers – High Noon

SALT AND PEPPER #3

Soldiers from the US Air Force based in Thailand during the Viet Nam war, and the first Americans to ever record in Bangkok. I suppose that was preferable to hunting Charlie in the jungles.

Salt And Pepper – Linda

PEPPER AND SALT #4

Dutch soul band from the late 60s who were originally called Pepper & Soul until lead singer Johnny Pepper left the group… at which point they became Pepper & Salt. Don’t ask me. They later changed their name to Post Scriptum and went all prog. 

Pepper And Salt – It Was Yesterday Today

SALT AND PEPPER #5

Funky Texans from 1969 – accept no substitutes!

Salt And Pepper – The Real McCoy

SALT AND PEPPER #6

Classy soul number from the US in 1970.

Salt And Pepper - Love Makes All The Difference In The World

(HUGH BOYNTON &) SALT AND PEPPER #7

Short-lived backing band for funky Georgia soul dude Hugh Boynton, from 1976.

Hugh Boynton And Salt And Pepper – Funky Grasshopper

SALT AND PEPPER BAND #8

Norwegian condiments, sprinkled throughout the 70s.

Salt & Pepper Band – Look Around

SALT AND PEPPER #9

Spanish disco act from 1979…

Salt And Pepper – Flying High

SALT AND PEPPER #10

British reggae band from 1980…

Salt And Pepper - Weary

SALT 'N' PEPA #11

Cheryl "Salt" James met Sandra "Pepa" Denton while studying nursing at Queensborough Community College in Brooklyn in 1985. Soon after they hooked up with student producer Hurby Luv Bug and 16 year old DJ Spinderella… and then they really started to Push It.

Salt ‘n’ Pepa – Push It

SALT AND PEPPER #12

Radio-friendly Euro-pop-pop-pop from 1993…

Salt & Pepper – Radio

SALT AND PEPPER #13

No idea what to make of this except that it was released as a Limited Edition single sided C20 cassette in 2007 on the Scumbag Relations “Record Label”. Imagine you’d just got a Bontempi keyboard for Christmas and you recorded the first time you played it and sold a copy to each of your mates… and that’s me being kind.

Considering the many, many promising tracks I fail to locate on the tube of you while compiling this feature… like these guys, for example…

…well, the fact that someone saw fit to upload 10 minutes of this baloney says a lot about human beings.

Salt & Pepper – Clean Gram

PEPPER AND SALT #14

German a capella group active in the past ten years who youtube reliably informs me have released a lot more music than you (or discogs) would imagine…

Pepper And Salt – Mona Morgan

SALT AND PEPPER #15

And finally, an 80s-influenced trio from France, doing it all out of their garage, though they seem to have practiced their instruments a bit more than the Scumbag guy did.

Salt And Pepper – I Will Feel Blue

Which one shakes your pot?

Snapshots #410: Songs Without Words In The Title

I thought about calling this collection: Songs With Nonsense titles. But some of them aren't strictly nonsense, they're just not words you'd find in the dictionary. (Watches all the pedants run to find their dictionaries.) Call them what you want, here are fifteen songs with no actual words in their titles...

15. Adrian - SOS! What a kerfuffle.

"Adrian - SOS" was an anagram.

Diana Ross - DoobeDood'nDoobe, DoobeDood'nDoobe, DoobeDood'nDoo

14. Come in, Spanish lads.

"Venga" means "come" in Spanish.

The Vengaboys - Shalala Lala

And if you recognised the Vengaboys from the photo, hang your head in shame. Until yesterday. I thought they were all boys!

13. Office David climbs Ronnie.

David Brent was in The Office. If he climbed Ronnie Wood, he'd be...

Brenton Wood - The Oogum Boogum Song

12. Like Beck, almost.

Beck's surname is Hansen.

Hanson - Mmmbop

Look - they grew up!

11. Sorry, Bono I... no, I can't complete that sentence.

"Sorry, Bono I" was an anagram. I have nothing to apologise to Bono for.

Roy Orbison - Ooby Dooby

I like his backing band in that video.

10. Senior officer required to take care of this boil.

A Major is a senior officer. You lance a boil, but only under medical supervision.

Major Lance - Um Um Um Um Um

9. Tony Stark: lepidopterist.

Tony Stark is Iron Man. A lepidopterist collects butterflies.

Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Why couldn't they have just called it In The Garden Of Eden?

8. Asking for them is an insult to the chef.

Salt-N-Pepa - Shoop

7. Primal Scream headspinner.

Bobby Gillespie is in Primal Scream.

Dizzy Gillespie - Ooh Bop Sh’bam

6. High Street Chemist rebrands itself as discotheque.

Extra marks if you recognised these guys, with a song that shares a title with the one above... but not much else.

Boots For Dancing - Ooh Bop Sh'Bam

5. Raunchy paperbacks.

Black Lace - Agadoo

I had to get Black Lace in here one day. The fact that they appear on the same weekend as the Vengaboys... well, clearly I have no shame.

18 million youtube views can be wrong!

4. Sheeran's market stall.

Ed Sells!

The Edsels - Rama Lama Ding Dong

3. A can of beans or... some Nescafé and ice.

In the REM song The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite, Michael Stipe sings, "A can of beans or black-eyed peas, some Nescafé and ice." But you knew that.

Black Eyed Peas - Dum Diddly

2. In the beginning, he had a kit.

In Genesis, he has a drum kit.

Phil Collins - Sussudio

Phil Collins revealed that "Sussudio" was just some nonsense he made up.

To which we replied, "So's the rest of your back catalogue, Phil!"

1. Bilinguals revolt when they hear his name.

"Bilinguals revolt" was an anagram.

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Ooh Wakka Doo Wakka Day

Ooga shaka ooga shaka ooga shaka back in here next Saturday for more shoobedebopbopbop.

Snapshots #254: A Top Ten Salt & Pepper Songs

This is Anthony Kiedis. He's a Red Hot Chilli Pepper. Unfortunately, he doesn't sing any songs about Salt or Peppers, so I can't play any tunes by him. Also, I prefer Flea. He was in Back To The Future, at least.

Ten songs to sprinkle on your chips...

10. Unknown corpse.

That would be a John Doe. As in the former lead singer of the US punk band X, now trading in slightly less rowdy Americana...

John Doe - Grain Of Salt

9. Red, orange, yellow, green, Sandra Denton.

All different colours of peppers... along with Sandra Denton, aka Pepa from Salt n Pepa. Get up on this!

These guys, on the other had, were French Peppers. 

The Peppers - Pepper Box 

8. Mr. Raoul Chop.

Anagram!

Procol Harum - A Salty Dog

7. Edward Kennedy: neither thin nor white... and certainly not a cowboy.

Edward Kennedy Ellington, better known as Duke. Not the Thin White Duke, nor John Wayne.

Duke Ellington - Blue Pepper (Far East of the Blues)

6. Found in Jacob Obama and Crewe Iron Man; also thankful to be gone.

Jacob Obama and Crewe Iron Man. Of the Grateful Dead.

Bob Weir - Salt Lake City

5. Batter Dawson.

Beat Les.

The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band

4. Son of a passenger.

One of the passengers in the car above had a son...

Julian Lennon - Saltwater

3. What if the Beach Boys were a bunch of arses?

The Butthole Surfers - Pepper

Despite the dubious band name, this is a better song than the Red Hot Chilli Peppers ever managed to put out. Although it does owe a little debt to The Jim Carroll Band.

2. The answer is seen in each effort he makes.

"each effort". Chef from South Park, as voiced by Isaac Hayes, and his Number One hit...

Chef- Chocolate Salty Balls

1. Richy Rap? Nah.

Anagram!

And the only song I know that features both Salt and Pepper...

By The Way... Snapshots will be back next Saturday.